Maintenance + Gradient

Press Release

What does it take for an object, or a human, to maintain its normal state? What does it take to change it? These interconnected questions are at the core of Johansson Projects’ upcoming exhibitions “Maintenance” and “Gradient.”

In “Maintenance,” Dan Grayber creates machines that are strangely human in a particular sense: their main objective is to keep themselves afloat. The delicate creations, housed in glass cases like peculiar specimens under scientific examination, held in stasis, their entire existence devoted to maintaining equilibrium. Through the sinewy apparatuses, Grayber alludes to the Sisyphean nature of human existence, as well as the contemporary obsession with “convenient” appliances that in reality create as many problems as they fix. And yet, despite the critiques embedded within them, the sculptures ultimately exist as extravagant answers to simple questions. If you have ever watched the sun rise, you know that light is not just a hue, nor a shade, and not even a tone. It is the natural agent that stimulates seeing, what makes things visible, allowing the world to be at once felt and understood. In “Gradient,” Craig Dorety explores our ever-shifting relationship to the properties of light, crafting pseudo-sunsets that mimic the gradient of day passing into night. Inspired by Johannes Itten’s writing, Josef Albers’ painting, and Isaac Newton’s research, Dorety’s sculptures are color-theory-in-action: exploring the ethereal properties of light, shadow, and time by providing them physicality and weight. The abstract works warp the viewer’s perspective as hues morph atop shapes within shapes, using electronics and animated light to mirror the shape-shifting illusions natural light provides every day.